Karakul Sheep. 511 



however, do not even make an attempt to prevent in-breeding or to 

 secure the elimination from the breeding- stock of Afghan blood, 

 which is indicated by the fine downy wool nnderneath the hairy 

 fleeces. The result is that good sheep and good lamb-furs are steadily 

 decreasing in numbers and are believed to be within measurable 

 distance of extinction." 



Importations into other Cot'ntries. 



The ever-increasing demand for furs, and the ever-decreasing 

 supply of furs owing to the destruction of fur-bearing animals, has 

 led to the importation of karakul sheep into various countries. 

 Through the elforts of Dr. Sinitzen, the Eussian authority on these 

 sheep, they were introduced into the Crimea, where they have done 

 well. In 1902 Paul Thorer, the senior partner of one of the lorgest 

 fur merchant houses in Leipzig, visited Bokhara, nnd on his return 

 interested the King of Saxony and originated the idea of trying them 

 in the German Colonies. This idea was taken up by the late Director 

 of the Agricultural Institute at Halle, Professor Kuhn, who, in 

 1903, secured 4 rams and 20 ewes of what were believed to be 

 pure karakuls from Bokhara. These sheep apparently did not do 

 very well, and there is reason to fear that their selection had not 

 been made witli sufficient care to exclude the fine uiiderwool so fatal 

 to the production of iiigh-class fur, for, in 1912, Dr. C. C. Young 

 reported that " he examined 60 ewes descended from Thorer' s 

 flock and found only three of them devoid of the fatal down-like 

 underwool." Professor Kulin's flock was, it is said, purchased in 



1910 by a Mr. Max Teinert, of South-West Africa. They do not 

 appear to have thrived there either, as, when the author visited this 

 gentleman's Hock in 1917, there were not more than thirty pure-bred 

 karakvils alive. 



An attempt to establish these sheep in the Trans-Caspian district 

 of Eussia bj- the Agricultural Department of that country has also 

 been a failure, owing to the wrong class of sheep being selected, 

 and Dr. Young, after examining 1500 of these so-called karakuls, 

 reports that he " did not find one fur-producing* sheep, all being 

 Arabi-Afghans," that is, having the fine woolled Afghan sheep blood 

 in them. 



The same wrong type seems to have been introduced in 1909 into 

 Eoumania. Before the European war karakul fur-breeding- was 

 reported to be a growing and successful industry i]i Austria, and in 



1911 the Emperior of Austria presented the then President of the 

 Argentine Eepublic with a flock of 20 karakul sheep. The result 

 of this importation is unknown to us at present. 



A much more important importation was made by Dr. C. C. 

 Young, of the United vStates of America. In 1908 he imported 15 

 pure-bred karakuls (10 ewes and 5 rams), and in 1914 he succeeded, 

 m spite of the existing prohibition against foreigners entering the 

 country, in obtaining another specially selected flock of about the 

 same size. It is understood that Dr. Young claims to have the best 

 karakuls that ever left Bokhara. 



One or two rams have also been obtained by Professor Wallace, 

 of the Fniversity of Edinburgh, and are being used for experiments 

 in crossing with various British breeds. 



